Families find hiking in nature cultivates family cohesionThis study explored what Norwegian families with young children experience when walking in the forest. The aim was to determine whether -- and if so, how -- the families’ experience of hiking together promotes mental health.
Data were collected by the first author conducting fieldwork among families hiking in Norwegian forests. Sources of data included field notes based on observations of the families while hiking or camping and tape recordings of 22 informal conversations held with the families. These informal conversations varied from approximately 10 to 30 minutes and were initiated by the researcher asking the family to talk about their good experiences of being together in nature. This fieldwork was combined with two in-depth interviews conducted by the researcher as he walked along with families.
Findings indicated that Norwegian families experienced hiking together as a way to isolate a space for cultivating family cohesion. They described nature as a space free of the social constraints of everyday life and valued the way it generated a different existence with a sense of here-and-now presences. They also valued the way hiking provided the opportunity to pass down experiences that can be recollected and realized by future generations.
Based on these findings, the researchers conclude that the strong belief in nature as having an innate health-providing effect is an insufficient explanation for why families go hiking in nature. They suggest, instead, that what nature provides is a peaceful background for families to experience the family as a social institution, and it’s this experience that enhances well-being.
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